A Florida Cracker Wedding
by TolkienScholar
Summary: Oneshot. A year after the events of Strawberry Girl, things are changing again for Birdie Boyer. She wants to be happy for her friend Miss Annie Laurie Dunnaway, but it's hard not to wish things could just stay the way they are.


**A/N:** **This story is based on Lois Lenski's 1945 Newbery Award-winning book** _ **Strawberry Girl**_ **. The story is set sometime around the early 1900s, though for reasons of my own, my fanfiction will consider it set in 1872. The story takes place in rural Florida and makes use of both the term "Cracker" and the Florida Cracker dialect of the period. Neither is used in a pejorative sense, and indeed, the author's foreword speaks very respectfully of the Crackers she interviewed in researching for the book. In that spirit, I have used the term in my title and the dialect in my story. In all things, I have tried to be true to the spirit and voice of Lenski's wonderful book. No offense is intended to any parties. Similarly, the views expressed by Birdie on the role of a woman are based on the period's view of womanhood and are not intended to cause offense.**

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 **Disclaimer:** **The characters (except for Clem Hopper) are the property of Lois Lenski. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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It was an awfully hot day for a wedding. Birdie Boyer could feel her legs sweating and itching under her long skirts, and for just a moment, she wished she was in a short dress like the flower girls, Essie and Zephy Slater and her own sister Dovey. But she did not fidget. Long skirts were grown up, and she did not want Miss Annie Laurie Dunnaway to think she was too young for them after all. Miss Dunnaway had insisted on long skirts for all of her bridesmaids, even though it was just the older girls from the school: Birdie, Olema and Mary Jim Dorsey, Rofelia Marsh, and the rest. The girls' parents had all thought they were too young to wear long skirts, even for a wedding, but Miss Dunnaway's father was paying for all the new dresses, so no one said much about it.

The organ music changed as the little girls finally got to the front of the church with their empty flower baskets, and everybody stood up. Birdie's mother was playing the organ, since it was usually Miss Dunnaway who played at weddings. This time, Miss Dunnaway herself was walking down the aisle with slow, measured steps, her arm tucked through her father's. Birdie stared at her, wide-eyed. She had thought Miss Dunnaway pretty from the moment she first saw her, with her curly yellow hair and long, graceful white hands, but she had never seen Miss Dunnaway as pretty as today. A veil floated down from her pinned-up hair (her mother's veil, the "something old") and she wore a pure white silk dress that trailed on the floor behind her (that was the "something new," as Miss Dunnaway was taller than her mother and old Mr. Dunnaway could afford to buy a whole new wedding dress). The "something borrowed" was a silver hairpin holding on the veil that Birdie's mother had brought down from the Carolinas, and the "something blue" was Miss Dunnaway's bouquet of forget-me-nots, which brought out her lively blue eyes. She looked as pretty as a picture.

As Miss Dunnaway reached the altar, Birdie stole a glance at the groom. His name was Clem Hopper, and he was a track layer for the same railroad company Mr. Slater and his sons Gus and Joe worked for. You could only tell, though, by the way his big arm muscles filled up the sleeves of his suit jacket; the rest of him was long and lanky. Next to Gus, who was his best man, he looked puny. He was tan and freckled, with yellow hair like Miss Dunnaway. Birdie did not think he was terribly good-looking, but she reckoned Miss Dunnaway must think so.

Mrs. Annie Laurie Hopper. It did not have the nice ring that "Miss Annie Laurie Dunnaway" did. It was a silly thing to be disappointed over; what did it matter if you had a pretty name or not? "Birdie Boyer" surely was plain (and no one even called her by her prettier full name, "Berthenia Lou Boyer"), but she had never particularly cared about it for herself—and a good thing, too, since if things worked out the way everybody said, her married name would be Birdie Slater. But it still seemed such a shame for her teacher to have to give up a name like Dunnaway for just plain Hopper.

Of course, the name change was the least of the reasons to be sad about Miss Dunnaway getting married. Miss Dunnaway had become the new schoolteacher after Gus and Joe Slater had whopped the man teacher Mr. Pearce, and Birdie had never enjoyed school so much as she had for the last year. Miss Dunnaway was kind and friendly to everyone, and she explained things so clearly and simply. Besides the three R's, she taught singing every day, and Birdie also took organ lessons from her once a week. Most important, though, she had been patient with her friend Shoestring Slater—Jeff, that was to say, he went by Jeff now—after he had decided to come to school. Thirteen years old, and he had never set foot in a school in his life; he could not even read. Now, a year later, he was reading at least as good as Dovey, and lots better than his two older brothers, who had mostly just come to school to cause trouble. Birdie was right proud of him, but she knew he could never have done it without Miss Dunnaway being so patient and so careful to respect his pride. The Slaters were a hard bunch to handle, even Shoestring—Jeff—but Miss Dunnaway had done a wonderful job. Whoever the new schoolteacher was, Birdie hoped they would be as patient.

Because of course, Miss Dunnaway could not be the teacher anymore. Married women did not teach school. They had meals to cook and houses to tend, and eventually babies to raise. Helping with Miss Dunnaway's babies would have been at least some consolation for losing her as the schoolteacher, but Birdie would not even get to do that. Mr. Hopper was not happy working for the railroad. He wanted to go West, and he was going to take Miss Dunnaway with him. He had saved up for a wagon and supplies, and he meant to head out just as soon as they were married to set up a homestead in Oklahoma. Birdie was not sure where that was, but it sounded mighty far away. She wondered if the mail coaches went all the way out there. At least she would like to be able to write.

Out of the corner of her eye, Birdie saw her littlest brother Bunny step forward with the rings and, with a start, she realized that she had daydreamed most of the ceremony away. She had wanted to savor every moment that Miss Dunnaway was still _her_ Miss Dunnaway, but other thoughts kept crowding into her mind.

She would focus now, though. She would remember the rosy glow in Miss Dunnaway's cheeks as Mr. Hopper slid the ring on her finger and the delicate quiver in her voice as she repeated after the preacher, "With this ring, I thee wed…" She would remember how passionate and pure the kiss was and the way Miss Dunnaway smiled with joy when the preacher announced them as "Mr. and Mrs. Clement Hopper," not minding how plain her new name sounded. She would remember these things, and she would be happy for her teacher, even though Mr. Hopper was taking her away and Birdie might never see her again. As the recessional hymn started and Birdie found herself walking back on Gus's giant arm, she stared hard at Mr. Hopper's back ahead of her.

 _Take good care of her, Mr. Hopper,_ she thought. _Take good care of my Miss Dunnaway._


End file.
